middleofsomewhere | So Familiar a Gleam: Ongoing

JUST Ā̸̛͇̹̈́͌͐͛̐̋͝Ǹ̵̠͍̲̘͈̮͈̺͔̤͙̳̓̔͑͌̒̓̃́̄̚͘Ớ̶̻̱̄̓͆͂̈́̄̔͋͌̽̀̕͘T̵͙͍͓̻̩͙̻͙̹͎̫̘͇̱̈́̌̓͝ͅH̶̭̻͇̰͈̯̦̹̦̗͐̒́Ẽ̵̡̡̘̳͉͇͚̼̗̣̩͎̞̏͒̈́̏͂̈͝Ř̴̠͋̐͘ NORMAL DAY

"Jinnjar citizens. Unfortunately, all train travel will be closed due to issues on the lines. Members of the Voidtrecker Express have been located around the city, and are deploying trickery to agitate and confuse us. We ask any volunteers at this time to help us locate any suspicious objects and people, and to restrain them.

For the f̴̘̯̰̦̺͖̔͌̋̃ũ̴̢̖̦͙̩̼̺̪͚͍̥͈̜̝͋̌̒̊̚ẗ̶̪̺͕̤̯̞̤͓̝́̑̄̎̊̕future of our city!"

A TL;DR notes version of days/prompts: (click to show)

EVENT BASICS:

DAYS 5 & 6:

By now, some people have broken out of their fake lives while some haven't. Tension is rising in the city as people are led to believe this is by the Voidtreckers, which some will believe due to illusions and messing with one's heads is believed to be one of their many tactics.
Some oddities are occurring with travel, and glimpses of how the city is made beginning to show. The streams of colour - the void - are getting brighter. Electronics are not working well. Some monster sightings are seen, but not to a large degree.
The prompts here are light to give characters and players time to ICly coordinate, as Voidtreckers are being more actively hunted. Some faces are known. You know who you are, troublemakers.

DAYS 7 & 8:

The world is really starting to go a bit wild now, with more things disappearing, animals on the loose and more monster sightings.
By the end of day eight most people have realised the truth though those who are very susceptible to mind control or very stubbornly wanting to believe in this world will still be trapped, believing this is the Voidtreckers doing.
There are monsters to fight, people to keep calm and a plan to make.

[ HOME SWEET...HOME? ] By day 5, the people of Jinnjar are in a state of anxiety more than before. There's those who realise they're not a part of this world, never were, while there's those who still cling onto this life. Health services say that the source of confusion comes from the colour trails that are brighter than ever in the sky, while the D-Force/Heroes have it confirmed - internally and publicly - that there are Voidtreckers amongst them.

The media shows pictures of potential suspects, some Voidtreckers, some not; a man with the same face as two others, one who made a show by creating ice in the middle of the street. Your face may be shown, but don't worry - they're asking people not to play vigilante.

That'll surely keep people behaved.

[ TRAVEL REVIEW. ] As if it couldn't get more frustrating, most of the trains are down. Air taxis are still available for short journeys, yet some people have the bizarre occurrence where they end up in the wrong spot, and even remember going in this wrong direction...but never say anything about it. Those using the tele-pads will also find themselves not always arriving where they should, or worse, suffering intense headaches, swirling colours behind their eyes, their thoughts jumbled for as long as ten minutes before it passes.

You might want to walk.

[ MAKING DO. ] Still, with all the chaos, many are trying to live. You have a life here, no matter what some other force is trying to make you believe,

For our HEROES: The cinema has rethought its showings due to the worrying happenings of the last few days. Clearly a boost in morale is needed and so they have pulled out some of the great films of the past. Action films that show heroes beating the bad guys, disaster films where the good guys beat the aliens, stop the natural disaster or thwart the secret agency looking to take down civilisation from the inside, at the last minute. Even the childrens films have taken on a pro-hero and triumphant air.

It's not quite distraction though, how could it be when every film has a warning before and after. REMEMBER TO REPORT ALL SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY TO DFORCE and WE HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE SHOW. REMEMBER TO WATCH YOUR SURROUNDINGS AS CAREFULLY AS YOU DID THE SCREEN.
Fun Park: It's for the kids, but one of the largest arcade parks has a special discount on everything to anyone who come visit. It's even advertised across the news: For half the price, get amazing fun and even better food! Kids younger than eight or from the orphanages get free access everywhere!

It's time not to think too hard, and to ignore the trouble! Play laser tag, racing cars or get a high score on the dance mat!
Encroaching Dangers: Something new is beginning to happen, as the city continues to shift. It starts at night, those that stay out past when the streets go quiet might see a shadow, might hear a growl.

Rumours and reports start to spread about monsters on the street.

DAY SIX: HELP FROM INSIDE

[ AID. ] DIAGNET is full of videos but one that has started doing the rounds is of a small droid and a cat. It's not hard to see why it has gone viral, the cat and cleaning droid are chasing each other around an apartment, caught on a home security footage. The cat tries to catch the droid but every time it gets close the droid turns to chase it and the cat runs away. It has been uploaded with stirring orchestral music, which adds to the madness.

But... For those Voidtreckers who have already regained their memories that little droid seems familiar indeed. As do the sounds that punctuate the music.

beep beep beep boop | boop

boop boop beep | boop boop boop

boop boop | boop boop boop | boop boop boop | boop beep | boop beep beep | beep beep boop | beep beep beep | boop

boop beep boop beep | beep boop | beep beep boop beep | beep

boop boop boop | beep boop beep | boop beep beepp | beep | beep boop beep

boop beep | beep beep boop | boop | beep boop beep | beep beep | boop | beep | beep boop

Of course it might not be anything, just weird droid sounds that haven't been fully edited out of the video.

[ MOONDUST CAFÉ. ] It might be that they figured out the message or, it might be that a friend is dragging them to the cafe. But for those that make their way there, they will find the Moondust Cafe is a bustling cafe on the edge of a park, near local transport links.

For those that say the right words, a slightly bored looking teenager manning the counter waves them to a side door. "Best sit downstairs, service will be quicker."

Downstairs has a fair number of tables and booths and is lit by coloured lighting making everything look a little obscure. There's soft music playing, not loud enough to make it impossible to hear each other but enough to make it a little harder for evesdroppers.

Mingle, discuss. This is probably the closest to a safe space there is.

[ LOST & LOST. ] You may have spotted it already - that is, spotted what's missing. There's been the pets, the birds in the sky, a pen or apple or wrench from the garage. But now, with every single bad thing going on, more is starting to disappear. Machines stop working, from air conditioning, freezers, your Jinnjar MP3 player, to TVs and more.

And in some business buildings, even entire rooms are gone, their floors empty of more than the door you opened to find this out. Even the heroes seem worried and they quickly clear any affected areas, chasing away bystanders and sealing off whole wings of office blocks.

None of them have answers though, except that this must be the Voidtreckers doing. After all who else but that group could have power enough to do such damage?

DAY SEVEN & EIGHT: UNRAVELLING

[ OVEREXPOSURE. ] Everything is starting to escalate. The headaches are getting regular the more you're outside, buildings are starting to go missing around the outskirts. People see parts of the city flickering, and when they reach certain sections of the city, they find they can't go beyond it.

Life tries to go on, but as more areas of the city begin to be sealed off and considered dangerous, even those who are most stubborn about pretending everything is normal can see that is is not.

[ LET LOOSE. ] The breaking down of the city has caused a lot of chaos, but one of the biggest problems are that parts of the zoo have vanished. Walls, fences, enclosure roofs. Meaning that the animals inside are no longer confined and are now prowling the city streets. Real birds now fill the sky that the fakes left empty.

And they aren't all that's there. Twisted creatures are becoming more common on the streets of Diagad. Creatures that look almost like animals but warp and twist between them, one moment a bear the next it has horns and then it is a wolf. But no matter how they look those claws and teeth are bad news for everyone.

[ CRUMBLING, CRUMBLING. ] By day eight whole streets are disappearing. homes, houses. people need to be moved in closer around the congress sector. Colours crackle through the sky like lightning and the world shakes often.

It's not just the infrastructure but the memories of those in the city. Dreams have come realities and all but the most stubborn have begun to realise that this world is not their own. They are from another place. What is going on? Why are they in this city? Who are these people who are their 'family'?

Confusion and anger are growing in the streets and it is perhaps time for the Voidtreckers to come out of the shadows.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Keep saying that if anyone's listening." Though with Guilmon being... Growmon, that probably isn't the biggest factor in keeping their cover intact. There are a lot of colourful things in this city, but this is going to attract attention.

She glances up at Growmon. "Do you see any more of them?"

They can talk about it, but they need to make sure the active danger has passed.

Growmon takes a moment to sniff the air.

"Growmon doesn't smell anyone else nearby."

Takato nods.

"Then we should try and get out of sight until you go back to being Guilmon."

He glances at Hera uncertainly. They hadn't really known each other before all of this. But, if she said it was okay for now.

"That's good." They have some time to figure it out, then. Her bearing shifts when she starts thinking strategy. Whoever she's supposed to be here has never been on a battlefield, but Captain Syndulla certainly has.

"How long does this usually take to wear off?" Hiding a creature this big could get... interesting.

But she does still care about more than just that. "Did you just remember?" It's a lot to have come back. Knowing you're the one all the government messages are about.

"He has to use up the extra energy from the evolution." Takato's smile turns a little guilty. "And I kind of panicked in the moment and gave him a lot extra. The first time he evolved like this it took most of a day."

He nods. "I remembered when we got attacked. I guess I'm still not sure what's going on." A forced smile. "But that's okay. We're used to figuring things out on the way."

"Maybe we can have him run around the track at the school after dark." Though hiding him until then is going to be... interesting. At least he hadn't actually needed all that energy for fighting.

"The intel never has all the details you need, even when you're not going between dimensions." So they adapt. They can manage that. "The thing that brought us here bit off more than it can chew setting up all this. It thinks it can keep everything under control by targetting Voidtreckers, so it'll be easier for us to move around and find a solution if it still looks like we think we live here."

That was half the reason she'd still been playing the part. That and the not actually nephews really were young enough to need someone around.

"I guess that could work. We usually worked it by fighting, but I guess we could run too."

Takato sighs. Since it was his energy, he would need to run too. It was going to be a long night.

"That's okay. We didn't really have any information when we first left for the Digital World either." Just the knowledge that there was a friend in trouble.

"So... I should still go to school and everything?" Takato turns to look with Growmon with a frown. "I don't think I can do that if Growmon needs me."

"If we run into more of those creatures fighting might be unavoidable." It just doesn't seem like a very good idea to go looking for them on purpose.

"Sometimes all anyone knows is that people need help and we have to make up the rest as they go." Even the missions with defined objectives bring surprises. No plan survives the first encounter with the enemy.

"It's a good idea, but if he's still Growmon... Do you have a parent who's one of us that can write you a sick note? Otherwise..." It's not the first time she's had to explain why a kid is in her care to authorities. "I can say that I was taking you to school when you took ill."

Takato shakes his head. "I don't recognize either of the people who were my parents here. Jounouchi is my brother? But I've barely seen him since all of this started."

"Then it's not a good idea to risk asking them." She recognized enough people around the city from the train, but not all of them. If Takato's illusion parents are on the lookout for Voidtreckers, he's vulnerable. "I'll cover for you with the school if you need it. They think I'm your aunt, I've convinced authorities I'm responsible for kids based on way less than that before."

"Thanks! That will make it a lot easier." He suddenly laughs."I guess I never realized how much easier it was to hide things if there's an adult to help cover for you. Back at home I hid Guilmon until I couldn't any more. And then I told my parents everything."

"We've got a whole crew covering for each other at home. Usually the tricky part is that the kids are human, but the school doesn't seem to be worried about that." It's something she always has to keep in mind, even if it hasn't been an issue on any mission yet.

"How'd your parents take it?"

"Well, they were scared and worried at first. Though part of that was me telling them we needed to go into another world to save one of our friends, and that we couldn't take any adults with us." He smiles, still marveling at this after all of this time. "But after that, they decided to trust me. Dad just asked Guilmon to promise that we'd look after each other."

"Any decent parent would be scared and worried about that." It's a completely terrifying prospect no matter how trustworthy a child and his companion might be.

She glances up at Growmon. "A Digimon is a good friend to send you with though." No guarantee, but he's certainly safer than he'd be on his own.

"As long as we stay with each other we'll be okay. That's when we're the strongest, after all."

Some guilt comes into his smile. "I'm sure my parents are worrying about me now. When we stopped at that one world we sent a message. But... being brought here, its not like any of the adventures that we chose to go on."

She nods. "If it was one of the kids who wound up on the train instead of me I'd be beside myself." She still worries about the situation she left them in the middle of, but at least she knows they're with Kanan and Zeb. "I'm not sure what I would have thought of a message like that, but it would be better than not knowing."

"I hope it helps. I don't know what else I could do from here."

He knew his parents and friends would worry, but without being able to go home there wasn't much he could do.

"If any of us had a good way of communicating across universes a lot of things would be simpler." Getting to send any message at all was a surprising gift. "All we can do is stay focused on the problem right in front of us."

Which is currently... a few different things.

So Familiar a Gleam: Ongoing

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